Request for Proposal: Landscape Assessment to Support Local Manufacturing of Pandemic-Relevant Therapeutics in Africa

The Medicines Patent Pool seeks a senior consultant to conduct a landscape assessment of Africa's health emergency preparedness ecosystem, focusing on therapeutics manufacturing and regulatory readiness.

This consultancy supports the Medicines Supply Resilience Africa (MedSuRe) project, which is led by the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and aims to bolster the continent's ability to produce reliable, affordable health products for public health crises. The consultant will analyze the current landscape to identify gaps and opportunities for strengthening pandemic preparedness and response capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Identify and categorize key players involved in public health emergency readiness and therapeutics access based on their operational roles.
• Evaluate the operational capacity of manufacturers selected by MedSuRe to handle public health emergencies, examining regulatory processes, procurement coordination, and alignment between national and regional levels.
• Map stakeholders by function, including regulatory bodies, procurement agencies, government entities, regional organizations, and funding partners, while clarifying their mandates, decision-making power, and interrelationships.
• Analyze emergency use authorization procedures, timelines, and reliance mechanisms to pinpoint regulatory bottlenecks and suggest measures to enhance regulatory readiness.
• Determine entities responsible for procuring pandemic-relevant therapeutics, assess demand forecasting capabilities and coordination frameworks like pooled procurement, and recommend ways to improve demand signals.
• Review national deployment strategies, reimbursement systems, and emergency financing, while evaluating supply chain, logistics, and last-mile delivery capacities to identify gaps and propose improvements for government readiness.
• Assess regulatory harmonization, mutual recognition agreements, and policy coherence to identify misalignments that could hinder emergency response and suggest how regional bodies can support national preparedness.
• Synthesize findings into priority gaps, leverage points, actor-specific recommendations, and a sequencing plan for emergency response.

Requirements

• Demonstrated expertise in pharmaceutical policy, regulatory systems, and manufacturing within the African context.
• Proven experience in conducting landscape assessments and stakeholder mapping.
• Strong analytical, synthesis, and report-writing skills.
• Experience collaborating with national, regional, and/or multilateral health institutions in Africa.

About the company

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) leads the pandemic preparedness efforts within the Medicines Supply Resilience Africa (MedSuRe) project. This initiative, supported by Unitaid and the European Union and led by the University of São Paulo (USP), focuses on enhancing Africa's sustainable capacity to manufacture quality-assured and cost-competitive health products, including therapeutics for public health emergencies.